Brother (By Choice and Not Blood)
by AnnieHart
Summary: Big brothers, while protective idiots at times, were a nice thing to have.
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes Clary was tired of being protected, of being thought as a "little girl." Most of all though, Clary was tired of being judged.

The other's constantly seemed to forget that she hadn't grown up a Shadowhunter, that she should know all of the rules and customs being one meant. Sometimes she was grateful her mom had kept her away from this world for so long, and other times she was so angry that she had been denied this world, felt so lost in a world that was her birthright yet felt so foreign to her.

Clary was tired of being thought no longer as Jocelyn Fairchild's daughter, but instead was now _"Valentine's Daughter,"_ with capitals and all. In this world, it was pretty much the same as being thought of as the daughter of a terrorist. _After all, in the Shadowhunter world, he pretty much was a terrorist. That, and a cult leader._

At least though, no one judged her for being in love with Jace anymore. Those months everyone thought they were related was hell. Now, she was just confused; too many things had happened in the same time frame and she was not coping well. Not at all.

Clary hastily wiped away the tears that had fallen while she was lost in thought. She couldn't cry here, not at the Institute. Jace was out on a quick mission, but Alec and Izzy were still here and _none of them liked seeing her in tears._

She didn't wipe them quickly enough though, as she heard a male voice call out to her from a few feet away.

"Clary."

She looked up and saw Alec standing there, really more hovering since he still didn't really know how to deal with her when there were tears close at hand. Or on her hands from wiping her face.

Clary could see the concern in his eyes though. Whatever his personality being with her in tears, or her in general, he did care. Now that she and Jace were more….intense…., she was slowly realizing Alec was placing her in the "little sister" category of his emotions that determined how he dealt with her. _People could say a lot of things about Alec, but when it came to the people he cared about,... **a pissed off Alec was an extremely dangerous Alec.** Almost up to par with a pissed off Jace, but not quite._

She tried to compose herself as he came closer, but knew it was fairly useless. Alec was no dummy, and having a younger sister who could also be fairly dramatic, he knew how to recognize emotional distress and could some-what handle it.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Here was the part where she did her best to explain that it wasn't _one specific thing_ , but a _multitude_ of things that were causing the tears. She would then have to explain to Alec, that, _no_ , he couldn't destroy multiple people much less the Institute because they made her cry.

"Nothing happened, Alec. I'm okay," Clary responded to him, all while trying to ignore the tear that was slipping down her cheek.

 _The look he gave her was nothing less than a question asking if she really thought he was that much of an idiot and if she was secretly blonde underneath her red curls._

She still refused to back down from the statement that she was fine. _She didn't need people getting maimed today._ The leaders would probably find someway to judge her for that too. _Pity party? Yes, slightly but that was okay._ With everything that had happened, she was allowed a small one.

Alec sighed and sat down next to her. If she refused to elaborate there was nothing he could say, not really. Well, there was one…

"Jace is back. He's looking for you," Alec told her.

 _Dammit. She didn't need people to die today, much less maimed._

"Alec, I'm fine. A lot's happened, I was just taking a moment to…wallow. But, really…I'm fine," Clary said softly.

Alec nodded, even though he didn't seem like he believed her. _She wouldn't either, honestly._

She wiped the rest of her tears away, and slowly leaned her head on his shoulder. People could say what they wanted about his attitude, but Alec cared deeply and didn't like not being able to take care of people if something could be done.

"If you needed to come to me about something, or tell me something, you would…right?" he asked.

"Alec, yes, if I needed you, I would come find you" Clary responded.

Alec nodded as if that was the answer he was expecting, but she could tell that despite her reassurances, he was still thinking about her in tears earlier and figuring out a way to deal with it.

For his part, Alec already had a list of people who had been making Clary's life miserable and was simply going to join forces with Jace who also had a list. _People didn't mess with the Lightwoods/Waylands/Herondales without receiving consequences in return._

As it was, Clary had no intention of moving from their position for the next few minutes, and Alec was in protective mode so he was going off Clary's cues. Jace was still looking but when he found out what had happened, he wouldn't mind the delay.

Sometimes, Clary thought, having a big brother could be a nice thing. Being an only child had been a little lonely at times, but the family she had now made it up for it.

 _Big brothers, while protective idiots at times, were a nice thing to have._

Author's Note: While I am working on my muses for Dangerous and Transmitting, I have been getting small doses of inspiration for other fandoms, so I'm working on those as they come. I've never written for The Mortal Instruments/Shadowhunters before, so I'm hoping this worked out. I liked the books, but I also like the show, as cute and cheesy as it is. The chemistry is also insane. There's not enough Clary/Alec moments, from what I call a Big Brother/Little Sister relationship, and as I have issues with my own big brother, I like doing fix it's with other relationships. Alec and Clary's didn't need much, but here you go...fluffy-ness! Hope you enjoy. All mistakes are mine.

Also, I know I said I would never really mark a story as complete...except for this one. I might add more eventually, but as of this moment, the story is complete.


	2. Emotions

**_Clary was over all of it._**

She was so tired of having to deal with Valentine, with the consequences of his actions. As "Valentine's Daughter," every horrible thing he did reflected on her, and caused everyone's trust in her to lower just a little bit more.

Except for Jace, Alec and Izzy; and Luke and Simon, but they were Downworlder's so that was a different story.

She didn't even know what to think about Sebastian. He was an unknown in an already unfamiliar world, so she wasn't ready to deal with him just yet.

 _She was beyond ready to deal with Valentine though._ Most of all, she just wanted him _out_ of her life. Her mother was gone, but she had Jace, Alec, Izzy, Simon and Luke; _she didn't want Valentine._

She also wasn't entirely prepared to deal with her emotions towards Valentine though. She was afraid she'd start crying and _never stop._

Sebastian had helped her confront some of her thoughts on the subject, but he had also acted like he knew her, had a right to know her thoughts and feelings… _he didn't_. She didn't know him and wasn't entirely certain she wanted to.

Alec had been there for her though, a silent ( _mostly_ ), hovering older brother on the edges, there if she needed him. Today, she had.

If he hadn't been there with her and Sebastian, pulling her away from the warded doors before her common sense kicked in, she could've been hurt. Probably would have been hurt. All because Valentine cared about very few things besides his agenda and her mother. He only cared about Clary so that he could use her. _Alec cared though, despite their rough start._

They all cared, but Alec was different. He was protective, but not in a boyfriend way; that was what she had to deal with between Simon and Jace. (She was still working that out). Izzy was like a sister, but really, she'd already kind of had that in Dot. She loved Izzy, she did, but with everything going on, they weren't as close as before.

 _Alec was the big brother she'd never had, but had always kind of wanted._ Being an only child was awesome, but there were times that it was incredibly lonely.

Yea, Alec was like a big brother to her now, the kind who let her make her own choices and depending on what happened…was either happy for her, there to let her cry on him and then helped her destroy whoever upset her. Or if he was particularly pissed off, went off on his own to deal with the person who made her cry. He also tended to drag Jace along with.

 _She wished that Alec could make everything go away, the way big brothers make monsters in the dark corners under the bed go away if there was no one else._ There had been other people for her, but Luke was the only parental figure she had left, and he was too buy with his pack. Granted, Alec was having a strange time with Magnus, but she still wanted him to say "boo" and make everything go away.

Selfish, yes but right now, with Valentine and the Institute and Simon and Jace….she didn't care.

She channeled those thoughts and more into her actions, putting the rune up so they could break through and was relieved when it finally worked.

As soon as the doors were open, Clary barreled for Valentine, determined to just finish everything. It wasn't necessarily part of the plan, but at this moment, _she didn't care_.

One of her thoughts as the portal closed behind them both, even though it was sending them to the Institute, was that _Alec was going to be pissed she had acted rashly. Again._

She couldn't wait for the lecture.

 _Sometimes, having an older brother was nice…other times it was a pain in the ass._

Authors Note: Hi Guys! I know I said that this was just a little one-shot, one chapter story...well, your interest in it has prompted my brain into spitting out yet another one for you. I'm not going to say it's completed now and I'm not going to say it's not completed: more like I may just randomly add chapters to it and you'll get a surprise :) You all just continue to blow me away with your support of my stories. Somehow, even when I think it's just a weird snippet my brain came up with, you all seem to like it and I can't thank you enough for it. I hope you like this one, and as always, I hope it flows. half was written last night, and half this evening. My brain is tired. Please, as always, let me know if it sounds wonky. I wasn't super happy with how it turned out, but my brain wouldn't make it turn out better. :) All mistakes are mine, I own nothing.


	3. Two Brothers, One Too Many

**She had another brother.**

Clary had always known that, except that now…he was alive. Not dead like she had thought.

In the beginning, it had been a struggle between feeling compassionate towards Jonathan because of the cruelty he'd faced with Valentine and disgust over the demon blood that had influenced him.

Jace had no problems with his feelings, she knew that. He'd made it clear that, if need be, he'd kill Jonathan. Clary was his priority, his to protect and Jonathan was an unknown element against that need. Jonathan's demon blood didn't win him any points either, it was more the opposite.

Clary was a little more apprehensive about the whole thing. Not to mention….the big brother role was already filled and she knew Alec would raise hell before giving up his claim on that role. She wouldn't let him go either. It had taken a lot to gain Alec's trust, she'd go through hell before losing it

Unfortunately, she didn't know if that was what was going to happen before all of this was over.

She'd thought she would have been happy to hear that Jonathan was alive….but when faced with him and what had happened with Dot….Clary didn't want another big brother. **She wanted Jonathan to go away, and she wanted Alec to stay.**

The universe didn't necessarily like to give her what she wanted though, at least not without there being some price to pay. The price was always high.

 **Clary was tired of paying.**

All she really wanted to do was curl up with Jace (without trying to figure out her feelings on that matter) and hide from the world for a while. Maybe invite Alec and Izzy to join, because she did miss them but also to help buffer her and Jace. He'd already tried to catch her and talk…she was afraid to talk. She didn't want to face what happened in the Seelie Court.

She'd never been a coward, Clary preffered confronting this head on but her… **thing** …with Jace was deep and intense and she just wan't quite prepared for it. Curling up with Jace would potentially do more harm than good to her equilibrium.

Scratch curling up with Jace…she'd take training with Alec except she wouldn't run away to talk to Simon this time. Besides, she'd been dropping her shoulder lately and Alec was getting annoyed about it.

If she got injured, Alec would go on a maiming spree and she would get a lecture on how she should have been training with him or Izzy to help fix the problem. Jace would join them too.

Yes, training with Alec seemed like the best option.

 **Clary Fray, Queen of Avoidance. Just for the moment.**

A little more time and then she could figure out how to deal with her feelings for Jace, possibly ruined friendship with Simon, keeping Alec feeling secure in the big brother role so that he wouldn't enlist Jace for some friendly maiming, and determining if the previously dead but now alive demonic brother Jonathan could be saved or if she was going to go back to having one brother and not two.

At this point, Clary honestly preferred having Alec as her big brother. He was less likely to attempt to kill her or attempt to kidnap her in a fit of jealous and possessive rage where he would also end up dead because of Jace's overprotective instincts.

Yes, Clary very much preferred having one brother. Two of them was just one freaking brother too many.

Authors Not: I just wanted to say a quick thanks for all you still reading and supporting my stories and my writing. I got into some serious writing block and then had no desire to write at all. I've been feeling the urge to but had no sense of what to write, so I was rewatching the latest episode of Shadowhunters, going back over my stories...this little oneshot is a from a combo of the episode plus the previews from last week and this week plus whatever direction my mind decided to take it. Hope you enjoy.

I'm also sorry it's so short, but it's all that would come out, it was written in the span of a couple hours and I'm still not too fond of this one but I needed to write and post something to help with the block.

As always, all mistakes are mine and I own nothing.


	4. Not Quite a Brother, Almost (baby steps)

Authors Note: Hey everyone, I am still alive! Thank you all so much for your continued support! I am on winter break for about another week but lost all desire to write after finals were over. I was physically, mentally and emotionally tired from school, work and life. I am finally getting back into continuing my stories, and possibly adding other stories to my list of open stories. I've recently become addicted to Stranger Things as well as The Runaways but nothings bouncing in my head at the moment so I'll wait and see. I've got some tiny snippets for a couple other stories, including Of Shields, written down, but my muses for the stories are being a pain in the a**, so it's taking me a good while to get them finished; I've been having to go back and rewatch certain episodes to get back into my perceived mindset of the characters and I'm finding I don't have much time at the moment. I am working on them though, its just taking me a lot longer than I expected.

I finished this chapter this morning, but I'm still not too fond of it as I feel like I've gotten a tad rusty with my writing skills but I also wanted to get something out for you all (even if Shadowhunter's isn't your thing). I hope you all enjoy. Thank you all again for your continued support, it means a lot knowing there's readers out there who like what my mind comes up with.

* * *

Clary felt like she couldn't move, was frozen in time yet also felt as if the world was speeding by her and she was losing grip.

All she could see was Jace's heartbroken but resigned expression just before he turned and left with Valentine and… _she just…couldn't…_

She couldn't let him leave through the portal. She didn't know if she was going to ever see him again, everything was in chaos and _by the Angel, she hated Valentine._

Clary barely even remembered shoving the tome in her arms at Simon as the next thing she knew she was moving quickly, not quite running but pretty close to it, towards the portal and Jace as he was disappearing from view and then the moment after, Alec was intercepting her.

 _Why?_ Jace and Alec were Parabatai and pretty much family and everyone knew of Jace and Clary's complicated… _thing;_ ( _Valentine was a liar, Jace couldn't be her brother_ )… so why wouldn't Alec let her go and try to get him back?

Clary had tried for a brief couple moments to shake ( _shove_ ) him off but despite her inheriting the red hair and fiery temper ( _and attitude_ ) from her mother, and during the moments she acknowledged Valentine was her father she also acknowledged she got some of his temper too ( _thank the Angel she hadn't inherited his more murderous personality traits_ ), Clary did realize and accept she was just slightly over 5 feet and therefore, it was fairly easy for some people to easily restrain her.

Case in point: Alec; being at least if not a little over 6 feet, had a good foot on her, not to mention since he'd been training since he was a kid and she had not….therefore, he was one of the people who could easily intercept and prevent her from doing something.

Like now.

That something he was preventing her from doing? Following Jace.

 _Clary wanted to know why._

Alec's answer when she asked ( _more like demanded_ ) made sense which sucked because she didn't want it to, and while he did let her go, he didn't move from his position ( _almost on top of her_ ) and she could practically feel the tension vibrating in his body.

Alec had let her go but she was under no illusion that if she tried anything, he would be back to manhandling her again and there would be no explanation, just one of those looks of his ( _the ones that asked if she was secretly stupid or blonde)_ and then either a hovering Alec or a notice that she was grounded to the Institute until he deemed her sanity had returned.

Clary knew that at the moment, she wouldn't be attempting anything stupid ( _later hadn't been decided on just yet_ ), she was still in shock and attempting to not break down in front of everyone ( _completely failing by the way_ ).

She was half listening to Alec through all of the thoughts whirling through her head when the first tear fell at the same time her body decided it had had enough and now was a good time to rest.

Clary felt her body begin a slow descent down but felt her body hit a hard object and arms once again go around her, stopping her fall. She realized that Alec was the one she had hit, which made sense as he was the closest ( _literally an inch away from her_ ), and while she had felt him jolt in surprise at the contact, that didn't prevent him from once again securing her in his arms.

She normally would have protested, but since tears were now slowly beginning to make their way down her face and the brief realization that she would be on the ground crying right then, she had no problems with Alec holding her.

She didn't realize that Alec was pretty much supporting the majority of her weight right then, she was really only aware that _the more she cried, the tighter his grip around her got._

There were many things Clary could admit that she hated at the moment, and typically Alec ( _or anyone really_ ) manhandling her as they pleased was one of those but…just then…she was more than willing to accept the tight grip that Alec had on her.

The tight grip felt _nice_ , it felt _comforting_ and she _slightly wished_ that it had been available _before_ she'd found out about the Institute and the world her mother had taken her from.

 _That was one of the downsides to being an only child…an older sibling being available to comfort her when things were going to hell had not been in the cards._

Right now, though, despite Alec not being her brother or related in any sense, he had younger siblings and knew how to do the comforting thing pretty well. It made Clary wish ( _just a little_ ) that they had a better relationship. His method of comforting was… _nice_ …and _she didn't want him to let go just yet._

Alec, for his part, while surprised ( _yet not_ ) to be holding Clary, actually found it somewhat comforting. His Parabatai ( _practically brother now that he'd kissed Magnus_ ) had just left with a psychotic madman and there hadn't been a thing he could do to prevent it.

When Clary had attempted to follow Jace, his only thought was that he _refused_ to lose someone else ( _ignoring the fact that he hadn't liked her all that much just a few days ago_ ) and his only instinct had been to bodily prevent her from entering the portal. Clary might have a short temper 90% of the time but she was also tiny and unprepared, which had made his interception easier.

It was growing more and more _obvious_ to him that as Clary had been an only child, she wasn't used to hearing _"no,"_ or being prevented from doing something that often, but _she was just going to have to deal_ with having an authoritative older sibling person telling her something and having to follow through with it.

Alec knew Clary considered Isabelle to be somewhat of an older sister at this point, it just _made sense_ for him to start stepping into the role of the older brother. He had a feeling Clary may not like it but she would just have to learn to deal with it.

As for what had just happened with Jace, he was grieving, yes, because he had just lost his brother for an undetermined amount of time but he was also _incredibly pissed off too._

 _They had all fallen for Valentine's trap when they should have known better._

It was time to start stepping up and getting things done. Alec knew that no one was going to like the choices they ( _he_ ) was going to have to make in the ( _very_ ) near future; _hell_ , he knew he wasn't going to like the choices being made but there were limited options now.

Alec _refused_ to lose anyone else he cared about in this war with a psycholotic madman. He wasn't entirely sure _how_ they were going to stop Valentine, but he was going to be damned if anyone he loved was another victim of Valentine's.

 _Yes_ , he _did_ realize that people died in wars and he couldn't keep everyone safe but he was going to do his best. _That best included Clary now, too._

Alec knew that despite the new and chaotic revelations of familial information coming out, not only would Jace kill him if Clary got hurt ( _parabatai or not_ ), but she was beginning to fill the little sibling spot that was already dedicated to Izzy and Max.

Clary may not be a Lightwood but they technically didn't have Jocelyn Fray awake at the moment and, when enforced, the Institute didn't typically allow Downworlders to enter _(Luke and Simon were pretty much banned under normal conditions)_ …..meaning that _Clary didn't have anyone at the moment besides him and Izzy._

Alec already had two younger siblings; adding Clary Fray ( _Fairchild_ ) as another younger sister wouldn't make a difference to him.


End file.
